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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Creamed Honey and Seed Saving

Having extracted the honey yesterday
the next step was to cream it. Such a surplus means it will be ages
before we get through it or give enough away and rather than let it
crystallise with age we crystallise it ourselves but into fine
crystals that taste terrific. We kept one jar of the previous creamed
honey as the seeding material.

A few small jars of natural honey is
bottled for gifts and as a comparison to the creamed product. The
rest is mixed with the contents of the seed material jar for an hour
on the pedestal drill with a squirrel mixer and then bottled
predominately into small jam jars kept from when we ate jam.

Natural honey kept as samples

We don't eat jam any more preferring to
have the fruit and fibre fresh or if desperate for a sweet flavouring
either honey or dextrose (in moderation).

The previous batch of creamed honey now out of the fridge

By the time the mixing and filling and
cleaning is completed another half day went by.

Creamed on the left and natural on the right

This time rather than use the cheese
fridge to keep the honey cool while the crystals form we activated
the bar fridge someone gave us that has an adjustable thermostat
allowing us to keep the honey at 14 C for two weeks.

In the refrigerator for setting

While I was fiddling around with honey
Jean got stuck into seed saving. Samples of various tomatoes we grow
have been soaking for a few days and now she washed and sieved and
lay the seeds out onto paper to dry.

One batch of seeds drying with the oyster opening gear in front

The rest of the seeds drying with a sprouting carrot top and some Avocado seeds

We also went through our
tomato planting plan for next year over morning tea. Too many varieties are
being grown. Some were eliminated on taste and others because they
didn't do well. Usually we give them a couple of attempts before
dropping them but today we were having an aggressive clean out. And still
next July when we look at the issue again we may add some back or
come across yet another one to try.

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About Me

We live on a small acreage. What soil is present is not great but over the years we have established an orchard and vegetable gardens. What is great are the views over our valley. Apart from growing almost all our fruits and vegetables we also make wine, cheese and many other things. We love food and the process of getting it to the table but we also realise that life requires an holistic approach. An holistic view includes paying attention to our impact on the environment, our health and wellbeing. Frugal living does not accurately describe our life as it conjures up images of misery and meanness. We enjoy the best of food, wine and entertainment with a wonderful collection of animals and some people. We're not spenders: we recycle, reuse, glean, build and save. Our lives are about having fun without negatively impacting on the world. The European peasant lifestyle of working hard and eating well, with our addition of fun and laughter, is a closer image.